“This is a private grid scale project,” Arenko CEO Rupert Newland told Electronics Weekly. “Using Arenko’s trading platform, which can access multiple energy markets in real time, the project will be able to respond to and effectively handle system-wide problems to deliver energy to consumers quickly and efficiently.”

The project is due to be operational during the second half of 2018, said Arenko. For commercial reasons, the location is not being revealed beyond The Midlands.

Batteries, load-shedding, and other levelling technologies are proposed as ways to compensate for the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources, needed once they provide a large proportion of total grid load.

Other aspects of the Midlands battery remain undisclosed – its storage capacity has not been mentioned – although Arenko did make the statement “this first project with Arenko will be GE’s 19th and largest grid scale commercial battery energy storage solution worldwide” and has “the ability to provide power to the equivalent of approximately 100,000 UK homes”.

Electronics Weekly has requested clarification.

Image provided by GE.